Text Size

-

+

reset

But money alone doesn’t explain PhRMA’s continued clout with the GOP. It helped that the group started distancing itself from its health reform deal even before the bill was passed.

The PhRMA president who negotiated the deal, former Republican Rep. Billy Tauzin, was ousted a month before the final bill was passed. Though sources familiar with the group’s inner workings say the board was largely dissatisfied with his poor management of the group’s staff, drug company leaders used his departure to assign blame for the deal, grumbling on background to several news outlets that he gave away too much. Tauzin did not return a call requesting comment for this story.

Though the board had signed off on the deal with the administration and had ample time to object, this stance was certainly convenient.

“They’re not going to gloat about [the agreement] because you don’t want to piss off House Republicans,” said the drug lobbyist.

But perhaps the biggest factor shielding PhRMA’s interests is that they line up so well with Republican free-market gospel that lawmakers would never back policies that would make them feel real pain. It also doesn’t hurt that key Democrats, like Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), are invested in protecting the industry’s health reform deal.

The shared interests are a major reason Republicans and drug makers are getting along so easily over the drug user fee bill. The bill sets the fees companies pay for the Food and Drug Administration to review new drugs and sets performance goals for the agency to turn around applications quickly.

Drug makers want the faster approvals made possible by the user fees, which underwrite the salaries of the staff who review applications. And the industry would scream bloody murder if Republicans interfered with the legislation to keep business running as usual.

Judging from how easily the bill is moving through Congress, there’s little chance of that.

Readers' Comments (15)

Saddly PhRMA’ is holding the country on the health reform. What ever happen to the commitment of the pharmaceutical trade group? The industry is imposing again and consumers needs are not taken into consideration as in Central Florida.

Saddly PhRMA’ is holding the country on the health reform. What ever happen to the commitment of the pharmaceutical trade group? The industry is imposing again and consumers needs are not taken into consideration as in Central Florida.

That's right, let’s make sure those struggling families that were thrown under the buss with food stamp and unemployment benefit cuts have the best drugs to deal with their depression. Perhaps the House Republicans have been over medicated by the drug companies. That is why they continue to commit political suicide.

The "free market" neo-cons pushing for legalized bribery as always. The GOP is more full of crap than the Democrats. The Democrats don't pretend to be for a free market and less regulation, but the GOP does say these things then they turn around and enact far more fascist policies than the Democrats. The FDA needs to be shutdown, it has always been an arm of the pharmaceutical industry and these user fees make that even more clear.

Ever notice that Republicans who want to repeal the ACA (ObamaCare) never want to repeal their equally costly Medicare prescription drug entitlement they passed literally in the middle of the night and at nearly double the quoted cost? Notice that it was the GOP giveaway to the drug makers and insurers barring drug price negotiation, import of cheaper drugs from Canada, etc., while allowing cheap drug component import from places like China that are often counterfeit and sometimes poisonous? Watch as the drug makers who keep their corporate information and drug studies secret that often show bad side effects including death and promote the more costly drugs, rather than generics, which they push through paid-off, corrupt doctors. Recall that under Bush-Cheney healthcare costs DOUBLED.

Like the high-tech industries such as Apple, the drug makers are able to quickly shift assets to states and offshore to avoid taxes like Apple who made billions yet paid a 9% interest rate. Republicans are always crowing that the US has the highest corporate interest rates yet few of the large corporations pay those rates and some huge companies like Exxon-Mobile, AT&T, General Electric pay no federal income taxes. Even WalMart does not pay the top rate of 35% but 24%.

Thanks to the GOP-created tax breaks and loopholes and offshore, overseas tax evasion benefitting corporations and the super rich like Romney, that unemployed, idle rich, .006 percenter, who took full advantage of them and paid just 13.9% in taxes thanks also to his 468-page tax returns, offshore and overseas tax dodges. Think his $22 million per year income is being used to create jobs?

Republicans have sold their souls long ago for money and are the stooges of the huge energy and chemical companies, the darlings of the defense industry and all their government-created jobs/contracts, the hucksters of healthcare industry of which the drug makers are just a part and have historically been the party of the rich and rich corporations, who under their watch, have become obscenely profitable while polluting and poisoning our nation daily yet they have managed to keep wages stagnant for 30 years while increasing income for the top one pecent 275% from 1979-2006.

The Republican Party has historically NEVER represented the working class who they incite, con, manipulate and exploit while they pick their pockets. Any working class American voting Republican at any level hurt themselves, their families, and the rest of us. We will be living with the legacy of successive Conservative Republicans regimes from Reagan forward that exploded our National Debt, wrecked the economy, and burdened America and its military with lifetimes of war bills, suffering and death, and costly VA healthcare projected to cost $5 trillion. Republicans are morally bankrupt and will likely drag their bigoted, narrow-minded, selfish supporters with them when they go. No amount of GOP spin or burdening wealth will save them.

Well, the bill can't move through congress quickly without substantial Democrat support too, now can it? After all, Democrats still control the Senate, and whatever legislation comes out of the Senate, assuming its the same as the house, would have to be signed by Obama, right?

Of course lost in this trash of an article, until just a hint in the last paragraph, is that speeding up the approval process is good for healthcare patients. I guess when measured against the good of the people vs. beating up on the Republican party, Politico chose the low road again, with all the investigative innuendo and quality of a tabloid rag.

The U.S. has one of the slowest drug approval processes in the World, leading to undeniable unnecessary deaths each year.... drugs to treat AIDS and Cancer, Cardiovascular desease, etc., all while adding extra costs to the treatments. (Meanwhile, medically legal weed is being sold to just about anyone without a single FDA approved double blind parrallel study, but I digress.)

Enjoy the predictible responses to your hit piece Lester, Brett and Matt. Let's hope enough Democrat congressmen and women, as well as the President, are smart enough to not act on your ignorance.

Judging from how easily the bill is moving through Congress, there’s little chance of that.

So there is nothing in the article about the bill itself, just that the Republicans feel it is necessary, and that means they are a bunch of sellouts not willing to hold the Democrats and Pharmas feet against the fire for the backroom deals they made when passing PPACA.

One republican commenter says that 'huge profits' are good for Americans. Why should any pharma company make huge profits; since taxpayers are paying for the bush republicans 2005 Medicare drug bill along with subsides to every American company providing health care? America is socialized health care under the covers; it remains under the cover and protects massive profits simply due to special interests lobbyists.

That kind of republican logic needs to die, especially in the health care industry where profit is the highest in the world and the care provided is middle of the road according to most surveys.

So, stop all of the health care subsidies and eliminate the bush/republican 2005 medicare drug bill that keeps drugs so profitable and install an open, transparent solution.

The house republicans as one libertarian implied are a disgrace for exploding our debt further for big pharma profits.

I would hate to fathom how the drug industry is one of the largest reasons health care costs are so out of control in this country. From the absurd prices, to the unreported side effects that send people to doctors when they think something else is wrong, to pushing drugs to market that kill people. This is an area where I am just sure we could save billions. It will never happen.